The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the recall this week of a popular deli item.
The recall applies to 65 cases or 780 units, each containing twelve 8 ounce packages of the cheese that bear the UPC code 0 42421-50006 6 and expiration date of Sept. 3, 2025.
The FDA has yet to classify the event.
Alpine Slicing and Cheese Conversion Company did not respond to requests for comment.
A Boar's Head spokesperson said food safety is paramount and the mislabeling is due to a third-party supplier mistakenly placing an incorrect cheese label on the back of packaging.
"We’re committed to delivering high-quality foods that you can enjoy with confidence," the spokesperson told NTD in an email. "A limited number of Boar’s Head Pre-Sliced Smoked Gouda Cheese (8 oz) were voluntarily recalled. There are no food safety, quality or health risks associated with this issue, and no consumers were affected. Once notified, we promptly worked with our distribution and retail partners to remove the mislabeled units from shelves. This recall is strictly limited to the specific Boar's Head Pre-Sliced Smoked Gouda Cheese (8 oz) packages identified. It does not affect other Boar's Head Smoked Gouda Cheese products or any other Boar's Head items currently available in stores.”
This isn’t the first time a Boar’s Head food item was recalled.
A year ago, company leaders recalled more than 200,000 pounds of sliced deli cold cuts, followed by 7 million pounds of meat products that had been packaged at a Virginia plant after a listeria food poisoning outbreak. Some 57 people fell ill as a result.
“Mislabeling can occur because a product label is not updated in the middle of a production run when the product is changed and so the prior batch's label is printed on a subsequent batch," food industry expert and Fruit Slabs CEO Brandon Dorsky told NTD. "Mislabeling can occur for many reasons, including because of a recent change in disclosure requirements on packaging, a change in ingredients, a change in suppliers who supply different substitutes, a change in packaging materials, or a change in personnel responsible for packaging designs or quality control or otherwise."